Homeowner in row over tree damage to garage
A HOMEOWNER is embroiled in a battle over claims a tree on councilowned land has damaged his property.
Morris Dentith, 61, claims the roots of a scrub willow tree has caused structural damage to a free-standing garage at his home on Mallard Crescent, Poynton.
Mr Dentith believes the problem has resulted in him being unable to sell his house, wrecking his retirement plans.
He said: “I noticed that my garage was leaning but assumed that the problem was due to the age of the garage.
“It later transpired that some trees on the council’s land had taken root under my garage and it was these roots that were causing my garage to topple.”
Mr Dentith contacted the council, which sent round an inspector.
Within days the trees had been chopped down and the remaining roots treated.
However, Mr Dentith claims the council is now refusing to put right the damage caused to the garage because the trees grew naturally and were not planted by the authority.
Mr Dentith also claims he had to drop the asking price for his house several times and has been quoted £4,000 for a replacement garage.
He said: “I do not concur with the council being blameless. After many viewings of the house I eventually reduced the price of the house but people were concerned about the fact that my garage was leaning. The estate agent wrote to me saying that viewers were put off by the fact. This has been very stressful and is affecting my plans to take early retirement to Spain because of ill health.
“I do not think that it is just for anyone to have the value of their largest asset substantially reduced because the council did not attend to their land and had, to all intents and purposes, abandoned it.”
Mr Dentith is now planning to commission independent reports from both an arborologist and a structural engineer to prove his case to the insurers.
A spokesman for the council said: “Mr Dentith’s claim remains in the hands of our external claim handlers. We are not in a position to comment further at this time.”